Op-Ed The five-letter word, faith, has a lot to do with it

Author: Margaret McFadden

There is no doubt about it, Middlebury College cultivates a culture of community concern. Some students volunteer with AIDS education programs in Africa, "give up" Feb break to build houses with Habitat or put off a pressing assignment to spend time with a Community Friend. A few years ago students involved with Project Biobus made the headlines of CNN as they drove a vegetable-powered bus across the US, one of many campus-wide efforts to raise awareness about climate change. These public expressions of altruism and activism come at a time when faith is relegated to the private sphere. In a culture where religious initiatives are stigmatized by contemporary politics, groups are quick to claim many motivations for service, except the five-letter word, faith, that carries a slew of unwanted associations.

In an upcoming symposium, "Challenging Complacency: Do Christians Care About Social Justice?" members of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship want to challenge the notion that social activists must not claim Christianity and that Christians need not engage socially.

Students in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship believe that faith provides something unique to the demand for a more just world. Jesus made radical claims about the poor, and while the institutional church has often failed to realize these ideals, they provide powerful motivation in the human struggle to advocate justice. Christianity has represented a drastic range of contradiction. There has been war and peace, oppression and liberation, bigotry and compassion…all in the name of Christ.

In the midst of these inconsistencies, InterVarsity students have assembled a diverse group of intellectuals and activists to interpret the struggles of the past and provide hope for the future. The symposium events will represent the synthesis of intellectual inquiry and experiential service that lies at the heart of the religion. The students hope to explore the intersection of Christian belief, politics, history and most particularly, social justice. There are no trite answers, but they hope to learn together how to advance the human struggle to end injustice.

The College has provided funding to bring a range of nationally renowned scholars and advocates to campus on Nov. 9-11. On Thursday, Nov. 9 the symposium will kick off with an address by the keynote speaker, Shane Claiborne, founder of "The Simple Way," a radical faith community that serves the homeless in Philadelphia. He will incorporate his life experience and personal conviction in a talk titled "Living the Revolution of Love: Christianity as a Way of Life." Dr. Sylvia Keesmaat, University of Toronto professor and resident of a solar-powered organic farm, will use biblical text to challenge current patterns of consumerism in her talk entitled "Christianity, Consumer Culture and Empire: The Biblical Story as Witness Against Social and Environmental Injustice." Author of the well-known book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, Dr. Ron Sider will speak about poverty in his talk "Christian Faith and Global Poverty: And What Christians are Actually Doing." Lamont Hiebert, a musician who created the organization Justice for Children International, will give a concert on Saturday, Nov. 11. Justice for Children International seeks to prevent child sex trafficking and provides assistance for young victims of sex trafficking.

A week of service projects will follow weekend events, allowing students to respond to the call to social concern through outreach to the local community. Service projects sites include the Rutland Jail and the John Graham Emergency Shelter in Vergennes. Other symposium events are a Celtic Mass for Peace and a silent retreat at Weston Priory in Weston, Vermont, where students will be encouraged to meditate on the voiceless and oppressed. For more details please visit the website: http://community.middlebury.edu/~cf/symposium.htm.

MARGARET McFADDEN '07
AN ENGLISH MAJOR
From Adams, N.Y.